Rep. Mark Rozzi pushes measures to protect children

HARRISBURG — A father determined to have abused his daughter was given court-ordered supervised visitation twice a week.

For several years now, the child has been dragged, sobbing, into a visitation room to be with her abuser.

“His rights usurp hers by law,” said Danielle Pollack of the Bucks County Women's Advocacy Coalition. “Current law allows for domestic abusers to have custody or eventual unsupervised visits with their victims. Why would we do this?”

Pollack was among the speakers at a press conference Monday hosted by State Rep. Mark Rozzi at the state Capitol.

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The event was held to call on Gov. Tom Wolf to make child protection and safety a policy priority in the coming year.

Rozzi, a Muhlenberg Township Democrat and a victim of sexual abuse as a teen, has been an advocate for a number of bills that he his colleagues have brought forth to strengthen the response to child abuse.

He was joined Monday by fellow Democratic state Reps. Margo Davidson of Delaware County, Tina Davis of Bucks County and Madeleine Dean of Montgomery County.

Others also on hand included Marci Hamilton of Child USA, a nonprofit think tank at the University of Pennsylvania; Peggy Hoffman, director of the Stop Abuse Campaign; and child advocate Jill Deitrick of Bradford County.

Custody battles

Pollack said that child sexual abusers have been winning custody of their children at a much higher rate than safe parents asking for court protection for their child.

She cited the preliminary conclusions of a national study by Joan Meier, professor of clinical law at George Washington University, which shows that alleged child abusers win custody or unsupervised visitation with a child victim 81 percent of the time.

“Attorneys regularly advise parents to not speak of abuse in family courts because it increases the likelihood that they will lose their children to the abuser,” Pollack said. “Would any adult rape victim, or victim of violent assault, be court-ordered to live with, or visit over and over again, the very person who raped or assaulted them?”

“We wouldn't dream of doing this. It is unthinkable. And yet, somehow with children, this is regularly ordered in our family courts.”

Custody rules

Davis has a bill that aims to put the child first during custody cases. House Bill 956 was first introduced last March but never got out of the House Judiciary Committee. Davis reintroduced it last month.

“Many of the approaches the courts take today work poorly for children,” she said.

Under her legislation, a professional who provides advice, a recommendation or evaluations to the court must have sufficient expertise in issues relating to domestic violence or child sexual abuse.

Judges and attorneys handling child custody cases would also need to receive training to learn how to respond to abuse allegations.

The legislation would establish an evidentiary hearing to thoroughly vet allegations of abuse.

If a court makes a finding of abuse, the abusive party would be limited to supervised custody until that party can prove he is not a risk to the child.

Nobody wants to deal with it, said Hoffman of the Stop Abuse Campaign, which is advocating for similar legislation in other states.

“The abuser now uses custody ploys and family court itself uses to further his abuse,” Hoffman said. “It happens by reconstructing a mother who seeks to protect her children into a pathological and vengeful liar.

“She is considered an alienator. The alienation label diverts attention away from abuse and replaces it with a focus on a supposed lying and deluded mother and/or child.”

Even children in these cases are considered to be liars.

“Despite evidence to the contrary, the myth that mothers commonly fabricate stories of domestic abuse to gain an advantage is deeply entrenched,” Hoffman said.

Financial impacts

One woman who spoke said that her husband was convicted of sexually assaulting their very young child.

“He filed for divorce and sought half of all marital assets, including my retirements and the land and farmhouse that has been in my family since 1880,” she said. “He also requested alimony.

“I had to pay the man who sexually assaulted my daughter $40,000 to keep my children in the only home they've ever known.”

Rozzi introduced a measure in January, House Bill 2059, that would prohibit a parent convicted of any type of child abuse from being eligible for the equitable distribution of marital property acquired by the other party.

He would like to see lawmakers support these bills with the same enthusiasm they supported Libre's Law, which stiffened penalties for animal abuse.